Improved molder s sprue



UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARTIN R. HO\VELL, OF ELIZABETHPORT, NEV JERSEY.

I'IVIPROVED MOLDERS SPRUE.

Spcciiicaton forming part oi' Letters Patent No, d 5,716, dated Jnnc 3,lSG.

To f/.ZZ 1u/tom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, MARTIN It. HOWELL, of Elizabethport, in the count-yof Union and State otNew Jersey, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Molders Sprues; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which willenable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, referencebeing had` to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in whichn Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 arerepresentations of sprues f'or use in casting, all constructed after myinvention. Fig. S shows a transverse vertical section ot the sprue nowused in the best foundries, and Fie. 9 shows a like section of a spruein its earliest style.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

This invention consists in certain improvements in the construction ofsprues used by molders in their art, whereby the work is facilitated,better castings are made, and less metal is wasted than when theordinary form of sprue is used.

In molding for stove and other castings gates are formed in the facesand for the admission of the metal to the mold. They are now generallymade of wood, of either around form, like pins, or oblong. It madelikepins they are such as are represented in Fig. 7, page 89, of OvermansMolders and Founders Ioeket Guide,77 published in Philadelphia, in 1851,also in Fig. 15, page 78, and Fig. 17, page 82, and are made tapering ingeneral outline, and after they are withdrawn from the sand the holesare eut out larger, bellunouthed shaped, at the top of t-he flask. lt'the gates are made oblong, they are made tapering on one side only, asshown in Fig. 910i' the aeeompanying drawings, and their ends havestraight sides and angular edges or corners. The shape of the taper sidehas been of late years modified, as shown in Fig. S, where the taper ismade upon aenrved lin e, and the oblong gate, or (as it is also called)the sprue,77 for some years has been of thet'orm shown in Fin. S-towit., with one vertical side, one concave side, and with straightrectangular ends. Its thickness also at the line ai, and above and below that line, is about as here represented, terminating at its bottomin an edge as thin as here shown.

This form of sp1-ue or gate has several disadvantages, some of which Iwill here enumerate.

First. Its straight and angular ends make it difficult for the moldertowithdraw it from the sand without breaking the corners, and Wheneverthat occurs he is compelled to patch and smooth the fracture, so that inpouring7 the metal shall not carry any sand before it into the mold, andthereby make a defective casting. i

Second. The workman, when pouring the metal, approaches the sprueopposite the curved side. Vhen large plates are to be cast-such asstove-plates-sevcral gates are formed in the box. With sprues like theone shown in Fig. 8 it is evident that when they are set on oppositesides of the flask the molder must handle his ladle differently fordifferent sides-that is, left-handed for one side and right-handed forthe other side-to cause the metal to impinge upon the convex face of thespruc. This difficulty Occurs at each end of the flask, it two sets ofsprues are formed in each end. It is also to be remarked that the metalmust be poured into each sprue of the same mold or castingsimultaneously and not successively, and therefore it is necessary andusual tohave a separate workman with a ladle of'metal at each separatesprue. Each alternate one of them must of course pour left-handed,7 andas very few workmen can handle the ladle expeditiously and efficientlyin more than one way, constant inconvenience results therefrom. in thefoundry and much bad work. Furthermore, as the niolder who prepares thework which has more than two sprues must ask the assistance ot' hisfellow workman in pouring the metal therein, jealousics, which oftenarise among the men, continually impede the work.

Third. In the form ot' sprue shown in Figs. 8 and 9, any slag which maybe poured with the metal is likely to be carried down before the metalinto the mold. i

Fourth. The great body ot' metal. which is left in the sprue or gate inmolding with forms such as are shown in Figs. 8 and t), and which areoften thicker immediately above their bottom than the casing to be made,causes injury to the casting by reason that the metal therein, beingthicker and in greater body, cools less rapidly, and the casting for aconsiderable distance about their line of Contact becomes burnt, in thetechnical language of the molding-shop.

In order to overcome these and other difliculties, I have invented asprue or gate, the principle of which is illustrated in the examplesshown by Figs. 1 to 7, both inclusive.

Fig. l is a side elevation and Fig. 3 an end elevation of a sprue with astraight lower edge, for plain work. Its ends are rounded for thepurpose ot' enabling the melder to make a smooth sprue without thedifficulty and hinderances which attend the making ot' sharp angles inmoldinga Each side or face is also made concave, and the thickness ofthe sprue is reduced so as to be nearly of the same diameter incross-section for a considerable distance from its lower edge or footupward. It results from this construction that a right or left handedman can approach the iiask from any direction, as both i'aces of thesprue are curved alike. The sprue or gate, in the process of pouring,being kept full of the molten metal, and the sprue being for soconsiderable a distance above its foot of dimensions or of a diameterabout equal to its foot, it follows that the slag which may escape fromthe ladle will iioat in the upper part of the sprue, Where the suddenenlargement of the diameter affords it room to float.

Fig. 2 is a Sprue constructed on thesaine principle, but having an edgeor foot formed to suit the contour of the pattern from which the castingis to be made, Showing how an oblong sprue may be used for a casting ofan irregular surface.

Fig. 4L shows a sprue also made on the same principle, with a break, a,in it, to enable me to use one sprue for separate castings in one ilaskinstead of a separate sprue for each casting. It is evident that the useof this form of sprue will save the labor of one workman in pouring themetal.

Figs. 5, 6, and 7 represent still another niodiiication, made on thesame principle, in which provision is made for casting plates Whose eX-terior lines are curved. Fig. 5 shows this sprue from below; Fig. 6, anelevation, and Fig. 7 across-section, on the line y of Fig. 5.

Otherr :modifications may be made to suit the varying forms of thecastings to be made, and the illustrationsin Figs. 2 and 5 will suf ticeto show how this can be accomplished without departing from theprinciple of lny invention. v

A great saving is made in the work by the use ot" sprues of myconstruction, by reason of the small amount of metal left in the sprueafter pouring oyer the amount left therein when the old styles are used,the difference in favor ot' my sprue being from two hundred (200) tothree hundred (300) pounds to the ton of metal poured. The waste metalthus formed, called also the spruej7 is knocked off the casting when theflask is opened, and is wheeled to the cupola to be remelted. I am ableto save, therefore, much ofthe labor and expense of remelting this largeamount of waste metal.

I claim'as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- A ii'loldingsprueconstructed withconcave sides and curved ends, as above explained. as. anew article of manufacture.

M. It. HOWELL.

'Witnessesz M. M. LivINGsToN, l C. L. TorLirr.

